the super swing

We recently went to Texas for a few days so Josh could consult with an expert in his field on some fancy computer program that blows my mind. Our hosts had a beautiful property, complete with swing. Jonah especially loved letting his superhero cape fan out behind him. Caroline thought napping in the swing was nice, but she sat up when I pulled out the camera. It's hard to believe it was so cool just a few weeks ago.

in-house gardener

Some days you just feel like pruning the bushes while wearing a blanket turned superhero cape.

 

And some days you just want to eat a saltine and watch your brother work.

the competition no one wants to win

As I was watching news coverage of the Oklahoma tornadoes last night, I was repeatedly irritated by the anchorman on one particular station. In what I'm sure was an attempt to do his job and tie together the various live reports, he kept making statements that sounded like he was trying to one-up any previous damage report. It is sort of like how women sometimes seem to get in these undeclared battles over whose labor was worse. Really? I find myself playing the game sometimes too, but even when I "win", it's never a very satisfying win. Let's practice letting each other be sad or in pain without feeling the need to prove our sadness or pain or natural disaster was worse.

Also, consider sending something to disaster relief efforts there. I have my eye on Feed the Children because they were feeding rescue crews lasagna last night, and when we were cleaning up around here we got tired of potato chips pretty quickly. If you don't want to send money or goods, a thoughtful note can go a long way to showing solidarity. The Primary in our ward (the little kids) got a whole packet of notes from a Primary out west somewhere a few weeks after the tornado here. The Red Hearts for Connecticut was another touching way to express concern from far away.

I by no means intend to dismiss how tragic and powerful this particular tornado was. It really was a worst case scenario in many ways. Still, I'm calling a truce on the one-up game. Let's have less making this a political statement and more celebrating the heroes of the day.

half a decade

Something important happened on Wednesday: my baby turned 5. He requested "salmon like Erik's mom makes it" (salmon filet with butter and lemon), broccoli, and chocolate milk for his birthday dinner. For his second birthday cake (we'd had chocolate cupcakes the weekend before his birthday), he asked for strawberry cake with sprinkles. I keep forgetting he is five. I gave him four carrots at dinner tonight (for the four-year-old) and he didn't correct me. Either he has forgotten as well, or he just thought it was a lucky night.

Just home from the hospital

A month shy of his first birthday

Two!

A plunger, a stick, and rain boots. This was his daily attire for months.

Having a water fight with Josh.

I sure love this kid.

My 4th Mother's Day (or 5th?)

I can't remember if we celebrated Mother's Day in 2008. If we did, it probably felt like a game more than anything else. I know that even the first Mother's Day, when Jonah wasn't even a year old yet, it was a little awkward as we tried to figure out what to do with the day. Did we go see our moms? Did we stay home and celebrate? Did we try to do both? Was Josh supposed to get me a present? There may have been a bit of a learning curve, but we have definitely arrived at Mother's Day bliss.

Yesterday, I slept in. That alone is worth celebrating. Josh and Jonah made me cards and picked me flowers (thank you, empty house next door for the out of control flowering bushes). Josh cooked fried eggs, potatoes, and bacon. That would be delicious enough, but then he reminded me that when I was pregnant with Jonah that is almost all I ate. It was a sweet morning. Of course, the sweet morning led to being late for church, but it was worth it.

I also thought often about my own mommy. I love her. I love to be her girl and I love to watch her by grandma.

 Isn't she the cutest?

I thought about my grandma, and how my poor mom has had to be without her for almost 10 years now. No one should have to live without their mommy to call when putting away dishes or nursing a disappointed heart.

I thought about Josh's grandma Caroline (yep, for whom our sweet Caroline is named) and I thought about Josh's mothers. I didn't really understand how he could have two moms when we first got married. Frankly, the idea of ever calling my in-laws "mom and dad" was very foreign to me (I still don't, but not because I could no longer fathom the idea. Now, it's way more fun to call them whatever the kids call them). But the older I get, the more I understand that our hearts are big enough for whatever love we have. The more love we give, the more love we have to give. I have really started to appreciate that while it probably wasn't always easy to navigate multiple households, Josh really lucked out. Who wouldn't love as many grandparents and moms and cousins etc as you could possibly find to love you?

I have a great mother-in-law.

And I have another great mother-in-law.

And I have beautiful children.

And when I look around my wonderful family and say, "I am so lucky," it is not in a boasting way. Instead, it's a reminder to myself that wow, I really have a life full of precious moments if I could just focus on them instead of on the hard things or annoying day-to-day details. Or as they say here in Alabama, I am blessed.

the alphabet game

Josh and Jonah like to play the game where they take turns coming up with words that start with the letters in the alphabet. It would go something like this:

Josh: apple
Jonah: ball
Josh: cat...

Well they played twice through today, and Josh kept track of all of Jonah's responses. For your reading pleasure, here is how our almost-five-year-old thinks:

Apple slices

Bambi

Cadillac

Dodo 

Earth

Flag

Grandma Hunt

Hey did we pass the 'R' already?

Ice cream

Jack

Kimberly I love You

Lucifer...Lucifer's the bad guy

Mommy

Noah

On and Out

Peekaboo

Quindi

Row row row your boat

Suck up..like suck up a juice or something, not the bad word and Slap Jack

Terrible..like terrible word

Up

Vinegar salt

Willy Wonka

X-mark

Yak

Zo (He likes to pretend to be a creature named Zo. And after that, he sang a song:) "For creature Zo, creature Zo, creature Zo, creature Zo. He's the funnnnneeessstttt! But he'll be gone when we get to Arizonaaaaaaaa. The only thing left is going to be Jo. Bye bye creature Zo. You're the best!"  

our beach trip, in pictures

How cute is she?

Running from the waves

Burying Jonah alive!!

I just really love self portraits.

Jonah flew a kite.

All eyes open? Check.

Proof, once again, that she's a happy kid.

More wave jumping

Caroline takes a turn with the kite.

I am mourning the loss of my books

I went through an unusually long no-reading phase. I was busy and things just weren't grabbing my attention and somehow I turned around and it was April and I'd only read two or three books in the whole year. I broke the drought with  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare, which was decent. It was nothing I would read again, but I was happy to have some resolution on that series (and I do enjoy her stuff). Then, I reread Froi of the Exiles by my favorite Melina Marchetta. It was much better the second time, though still no where near Finnikin of the Rock in my mind. Then, I read the final book of that series, Quintana of Charyn. It was so enjoyable. Josh even came home from school early so I could lock myself in the bedroom and read all afternoon. That is love right there. After that, I was desperate for something to fill the hole in my imagination, so I finally read The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. Though it was not what I was expecting, it was utterly captivating. Now I'm sitting on the couch crying (ok, not really crying) because the reading bug has bit but I don't want to settle for something less than amazing. Help!